


Seduced by Illusion

by Merfilly



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Kidnapping, Seduction, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 09:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7971691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toby returns to the Labyrinth to escape his parents, as Jareth promises him what he wants, unaware he's only a step in Jareth's power-quest. At least, unaware at first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seduced by Illusion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shewhoguards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewhoguards/gifts).



Toby picks up the crystalline ball that has been in his room ever since he can remember. He misses his sister terribly, and neither his mom nor his dad really understand him.

"Show me," he whispers to the sphere, and it obediently fills with the wild land guarded by a castle at the center of a labyrinth. As ever, it calls to his soul, singing a song of seductive freedom. How he aches to go, to run through that labyrinth, explore the castle, learn all the secrets of the wild lands. "I wish I could go there," he says aloud, says it in his heart, says it with the power that runs in his veins as clearly as it runs in his half-sister's.

+++

"I can give you everything you want," Jareth whispers in the ear of his latest acquisition. That it is one which had escaped him made it all the better. "Never answer to a parent again. Live your life exactly as you wish it, and all I ask is that you become my companion."

"Never listen to them again?" Toby asks, even as he shivers from the sheer presence of this beautiful being in his personal space. 

"Roaming free, doing as you wish… save when I wish you to be here," Jareth tells him. "Would that be so bad, Toby, when I obviously appreciate who you are, unlike those ungrateful adults?"

"I…" For a long moment, Toby thinks of his sister, but she is gone, has been for so long now. He squares his shoulders, and turns his face enough to see Jareth's face. Why does it seem familiar? "I accept."

The Labyrinth shifts again, growing slightly larger as Jareth gains one more human for his lands, one more thrall to fuel his demesnes.

+++

At first, Toby is reeling with having no cares, no responsibilities. He doesn't mind that Jareth often asks him to postpone his exploring, to remain in the castle.

He doesn't feel any urge to escape when the Goblin King runs a hand over his hair, or tells him he is perfect. It's all the attention he ever wanted, and Jareth makes him smile, makes him laugh. 

The whispers, though, slowly reach his ears. Of others, boys and girls, ones brought here to amuse Jareth, to be his companion, only to … change.

"It will happen to you."

"He'll take all your power."

"You'll be a goblin, or worse, once he's used you completely."

Toby doesn't want to think about how tired he is after a night of one of Jareth's parties, the ones where he is always the center of attention. He doesn't want to think about the fact that he's seen no other humans here, yet there were clothes just right for him in his chambers.

+++

He runs.

Jareth is distracted by duties elsewhere, and Toby runs. In the end, he runs into a dwarf named Hoggle.

"The lands need new blood," Hoggle tells him. "Most, they just become goblins right away, but sometimes, sometimes Jareth has to steal the power away." Hoggle sighs, shaking his head.

"What power?"

"The power inside you, boy," Hoggle says incredulously. "You mean Sarah never told you?"

Toby stares at the dwarf a long time, but the skies rumble, and he knows he has to run some more. 

+++

Later, when they speak of the Goblin King, it is with pity. The Wild One took it all from him. A dwarf will tell any who listen that taking a child of the Humans with fae blood in them will doom any ruler in the faerie realms. The human part thinks faster, and the fae blood gives them Power.

Now, the Wild One rules the Labyrinth, and sometimes, he brings children in, to expand his own realm.

But he never, ever lets them touch his heart, remembering how easy it had been to use Jareth's own game against him.


End file.
